Suddenly, he wished he’d spent more time paying attention in his Illusions class all those months ago. Back then, looking like a giant scorpion had seemed like a fool’s errand. He shook his head. No matter. He could make himself invisible. Hopefully, Aldrek and Valeria had been better students than he.
If worst came to worst, he could use the Tytin spell hellrain on them, but he didn’t want to do that if he could avoid it, for it could very well kill Valeria and Aldrek in the process, and maybe even the others. He said another prayer to the Jheriem for assistance and handed over the mindpic, then waited for the two to finish their illusions.
Half an hour later, Aldrek and Valeria finished assembling the parts of their illusions and Teryn recast his nothingsight spell. Fortune seemed to smile at them for the moment. Night had fallen upon the base. Teryn could only hope it would affect the Surcrams’ vision, aiding them further, though that remained to be seen.
Now came the real test of their disguises. They walked up to the complex together, side by side, and passed by the gate guards. The three made no greeting movements and said nothing, knowing any awkward movements could dispel the illusion and give them away instantly.
The three were so silent that Teryn could hear the blood rushing past his ears, flowing quickly through his veins as his muscles tensed.
One of the guards looked at them for a second, and Teryn was certain they had been discovered. He readied a fireball, but the beast soon returned its gaze to the field behind them and let them pass.
A silent sigh of relief passed through all three of them.
It wasn’t until they were far inside the complex, and there were no other Surcrams visible nearby, the three of them stopped to speak to each other.
“Lyrad said the megacylinder is probably in the basement, so we better find that magical shaft down there,” Teryn said at once, not wasting any time talking about trivial things out of fear of discovery.
Valeria nodded in response. Aldrek opened his mouth to speak, but his words were unintelligible. The boy was too afraid of the imminent danger to make much sense. Teryn nodded anyway to acknowledge the boy and raised his finger to his lips to call for silence once more.
The three looked around for a moment and saw what they hoped was a stairwell to the right. It certainly looked like a good place for one, so they headed that way. As they got closer, they saw a gigantic metal door of some kind was blocking the entrance to what they thought was the stairwell, and inwardly Teryn hoped it would be easy to open.
Before they were able to reach it, a Surcram appeared out of an adjacent hallway and passed them on their left. When the Surcram got close to the door, it opened by itself as if by some magical spell, and the beast was able to get into the dimly-lit room on the other side.
The door closed behind the Surcram and the three of them heard a rushing sound come from the room, like something moving downward at high speeds. Intrigued and still a little on edge, Teryn urged them forward.
A moment later, he heard another rushing sound, but this time it sounded like it was coming towards them. Then, the door opened to reveal the Surcram from before was nowhere to be seen.
The three stared at each other, amazed for just a moment, and then they went in themselves to find ten flashing buttons on the far wall. The door closed behind them, giving them a moment’s privacy.
“What do you suppose we do here?” Teryn asked his companions.
“Push a button, the top one,” Valeria said with a shrug. Then she frowned. “Wait, it’s not flashing, it must be broken, so press the second one.”
“No, no, press the one in the middle,” Aldrek suggested. It was the first intelligible sentence he had made since they’d set out to infiltrate the place.
What button should I press, Terwain? Teryn asked the Sage Mind, hoping he could make some sense of the strange room they had entered.
I believe I have seen one of these before. It seems to be an ‘elevator’ from Old Earth, but how would Surcrams get a hold of that invention? A pale-faced man stroking a black goatee filled his vision. Oh well, if you want to get to the bottom, push the bottom button. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Huh. Teryn bobbed his head. I guess it does. Well, here goes.
* * * * * * * * * *
Lyrad sniffed at the air around him. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he could feel it in his bones. This whole operation had gone off far too smoothly, including his earlier attempt to infiltrate the base.
It’s like those things knew we were coming and laid a trap for us, he thought. But then, why haven’t they sprung it yet?
His face contorted into a frown and he tried to push the thought from his mind. It wouldn’t do him any good to think like that. He had to remain positive. Donovan had always trained all of them – he and his fellow priests – to remain positive no matter the adversity they had faced.
Of course, he doubted the man had ever figured one if his priests would be staring down an entire Surcram encampment.
A slight chuckle escaped his lips, but he stopped it in the middle. At the edge of their camp, he could have sworn he had heard the slow, rhythmical rasping sound of a Surcram creeping around.
Talon looked at him and cocked his head to the side. “Something wrong?”
Lyrad put a finger to his lips and pointed in the direction of the rasping noise. It came again, then, a little closer and more purposeful.
Talon nodded at him and he cast an airshape spell,
